


The Bodyguard

by bookworm231



Category: Bodyguard (TV 2018), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:02:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21636301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookworm231/pseuds/bookworm231
Summary: “Please.” He says, voice breaking, looking into her eyes, which are tight and frightened and not under the imperius as far as he can tell. “Please,” he says, whispering, and she sobs, eyes closing and tears falling down her cheeks. Her arms are wrapped tightly across her torso, one hand moving to cover the other to press down on the trigger held tightly between her fingers. “I promise you, we can help. The aurors - the police - they’ve already been notified, they’re on their way. They’ll help you, they can get you out of this.”
Kudos: 1





	The Bodyguard

**10.55 - SEPTEMBER 1, 2019**

Harry stands next to Ginny as she bends down to give Lily a kiss. For all her excitement over the summer about finally being able to join her brothers on board the Hogwarts Express, Lily is now showing remarkable resistant to boarding the bloody thing and has been hanging on to Ginny like a limpet for the past five minutes.

“It’ll be alright Lily-pet,” he says as she finally lets go of Ginny and hurls into his arms. “We’re just an owl away.”

She nods, tucked in tightly to his chest, and his heart aches. Harry straightens up to see Ron looking at him from where Hermione is shooing Hugo onto the train, but he doesn’t maintain eye contact. The conductor calls “All aboard!” and Harry picks Lily up and puts her onto the train. With one last kiss to her forehead, he steps back.

“Go on!” he says, and she smiles, stepping back out of the doorway. With one last look over her shoulder, she gives a quick wave before making her way further into the train.

Harry and Ginny wave back, then stay standing in silence, scanning the crowd for different reasons. 

A warning whistle blows and the train groans, steam billowing. Harry spots a boy and a girl pushing their way through the platform, obviously rushing to get on the train. Their parents are nowhere in sight, and he narrows his eyes as he watches the boy, barely older than James, pushes a girl smaller than Lily onto the train. The train door closes sharply before Harry can see if the boy managed to join her on the train or not, and then his view is blocked by a family of witches that are scurrying back from the tracks. Harry looks to the train, trying to catch a glimpse of them, of the small girl who’d looked so frightened, but he can’t see her through the crowd. He frowns and steps forward, eyes scanning the length of the train. Making a split second decision based on instinct he’s never once ignored, Harry has just enough presence of mind to throw a ‘later’ to Ginny before tossing on his invisibility cloak and rushing forward, grabbing onto the handle of the last car and hoisting himself onto the back of the train just as it starts to move.

His feet scramble for purchase on the small ledge, and he fights to keep his grip on the handle and on his cloak. Bracing himself, he reaches out for the latch to the back door, frowning once he grabs onto the handle. The wards feel structurally fine, but there’s something, some sort of undercurrent, that has the hairs on the back of Harry’s neck stand on edge. Determined now, he unlocks the door with a twist of magic, and slips into the compartment.

Casting detection spells as soon as his feet hit the ground, he can’t sense anything immediately wrong, but the vibrations under his feet and the feeling in his gut do more than enough to convince him. He’ll do a lap, then call it in if he needs to. Ensuring the cloak is in place, he locks the door behind him and steps down the hallway. He’s perhaps a quarter of the way down the train, still no closer to finding the source of the disturbance when he pauses, catching sight of Lily through the glass door to her compartment. She looks so small, curled up on the train seat clutching her orange tabby, but she’s smiling, and talking to a dark-haired girl in the seat across from her. He stays there, enjoying the sight, until his head snaps up as his wand gives a twinge. Flashing a quick ward around his daughter’s compartment, he continues on, wand at the ready. The tugging sensation grows stronger the further along he goes down the train. Harry begins placing shield charms and wards around the rest of the compartments as he goes, gentle compulsions encouraging the children to stay in their seats. The tugging sensation grows stronger as Harry approaches a group of girls waiting outside the lavatory compartment, complaining loudly about not being able to get in. They step aside as an elderly woman in uniform comes by, and he watches as she tries to open the door, first by hand, then by wand. The woman frowns, and then shoos the girls out, telling them there’s another lavatory down at the other end of the train. Once the girls have grudgingly left the compartment, the conductor’s frown deepens and she turns back to the door, wand raised.

Not wanting the witch to trigger anything, Harry quickly removes his invisibility cloak. She shrieks at the sight of him, and Harry hastily casts a _muffliato_ charm, while raising his other hand to his lips, shushing her. He doesn’t bother showing his badge, she knows who he is, and she follows him as he leads them into the next carriage with a jerk of his head. She frowns when she sees him cast a monitoring spell and a locking charm on the lavatory carriage, and is about to speak when Harry interrupts her. 

“Are you the conductor?” Harry asks. 

The witch nods, gaze traveling up to his scar, and then back to the lavatory compartment, her mouth still gaping slightly. 

“I’m Specialist Auror Potter.” Harry says, bringing her attention back to him. “Can we talk somewhere private?”

“Ah, yes - yes of course Auror Potter.” She stammers, and taps her wand against the frame of the compartment, which transforms into a door to the conductors carriage.Once inside, Harry gets straight to the point. 

“What’s going on with the wards? What alerts have you been getting from the lavatory compartment?”

“What - How did you -”

“I felt it. Localized pressure?”

She nods, eyes wide as they flicker up again to his forehead.

“Look, I’m going to call this in alright? Is there anywhere this train can stop safely before Hogsmeade?”

“Well, there’s Glaestead - it’s an old stop. The original start to the express before they decided on Kings Cross -“

“Great, how far away is that - sorry, what’s your name?”

“Sandra,”

“Sandra, how far away’s that from here?”

‘Maybe about seven minutes?” She says after a quick consult with the controls.

“Great,” Harry says before casting his patronus, wishing he was on duty and had his communicator and didn’t have to use something quite so conspicuous. “Specialist Auror Potter requesting immediate assistance. Attack on Hogwarts express imminent. Unclear method of attack, but possibly an imperiused child. Requesting immediate assistance at Glaestead Station, ETA 11:35.” 

“Right,” he says to Sandra, “Stay here. Make an announcement, get the kids safely into their carriages as quickly as possible, and ward the doors. I’m going back to the lavatories.”

She nods, and he heads out the door, walking quickly back to the lavatory compartment, the wards almost visibly pulsing now.

Throwing up the strongest protective shield charms he knows, he takes a deep breath and knocks on the stall door.

——

**11.29 - SEPTEMBER 1, 2019**

“Active hostile situation reported on the Hogwarts express! Savage you’re on point! Dawson second, Fowler and Li, arrange back up! Glaestead Station, train ETA 11:35. Get moving!”

Samilda Savage swears and makes a quick grab for her kit before running to the door, her partner Dawson and their team hot on her heels. They race to the apparition point, and pop away almost simultaneously. Savage lands with only a minor stumble, and throws up a shield charm as her colleagues behind her do the same. The train’s five minutes away, and they can feel it on the tracks, a gentle hum of incoming cars. Dawson and her get started on wards and detection charms, all the while directing Fowler to clear the surrounding area and for Sue Li cover them on the sky. The pops of apparating aurors have her leaving Dawson to organize and work out a response plan with the force. With three minutes to go. _Shite_.

——

**11.33 - SEPTEMBER 1, 2019**

Harry stands stock still, absolutely terrified.

He stares at the girl, who looks just as frightened as he is, and his heart clenches. She’s so small, even though she must be around Lily’s age, wearing ratty muggle jeans and hands clenched into her oversized hoodie, no robes or wand in sight.

“Hello,” he says softly, keeping his distance, posture non-threatening, wand held loosely to his side. “I just want to talk, that’s all.” He says, voice shaking and cracking as the girl stiffens and moves as far back as she can in the stall, her hands coming up to her sides. It takes all Harry has not to twitch his wand, especially when he sees something in her hand, before her sweater falls open to reveal a bomb, a massive bomb the height and width of her torso, strapped across the little girl’s chest. 

Harry’s heart stops, and the world greys around the edges as his eyes trace the wiring from the bomb across the girl’s arm to her hand, held tightly at her side, fingers squeezing against the trigger. Harry fights to keep his voice stable, trying to keep her calm while his mind races through worst case scenarios. 

“I just want to help,” he says, and she stiffens. Quickly, he adds,“you don’t have to do this, you can change your mind, please,” he’s on the wrong track, her fingers are spasming, “please just stay still, please PLEASE.” They both freeze, Harry’s eyes glued on the trigger, the girl shaking, little arms tired and fingers twitching on the trigger. 

“Please.” He says, voice breaking, looking into her eyes, which are as frightened as his, wide and clear, and not under the _imperius_ as far as he can tell. “Please,” he says, whispering, and she sobs, eyes closing and tears falling down her cheeks. Her arms are wrapped tightly across her torso, one hand moving to cover the other to press down on the trigger held tightly between her fingers. “I promise you, we can help. The aurors - the police - they’ve already been notified, they’re on their way. They’ll help you, they can get you out of this.” The girl doesn’t make any move, though her eyes do widen at the mention of police. “I’m just going to update them on the situation alright? I’ll stay right here, I won’t move, I’ll just - give them a call.” Harry summons his patronus once more. “Specialist Auror Potter requesting explosives specialist and negotiator on scene immediately.” He sees the girl shrink back at the sight of magic, and his suspicions firm up. They both tense as they feel the train slow, and the girl’s breath hitches before she tries to shut the door to the stall. “Please!” Harry cries, sticking his foot between the door and the frame, keeping it open. “Please, it’s all right. They’re just stopping the train to get the other kids off. Please, it’s all right.” She pushes against the door, and Harry presses his shoulder against it to keep it open, mindful of crowding into her space but not wanting to risk doing any more magic in case the girl startles again and takes her hands off the trigger. Suddenly, the train grinds to a halt, and a message is relayed from overhead through all the carriages. 

“Attention all passengers, attention! Prefects, escort everyone off the train as swiftly as possible. Leave all your belongings, and make your way quickly and calmly to the exit doors nearest to you. This is not a drill.” There’s a click, and as the message repeats itself,Harry looks cautiously at the girl in the stall, and then cranes his head to the side, trying to see through the window into the hallway. He looks back at the girl, and says, “please, I’ll be right here, I just need to make sure - my children are on this train, I need to make sure they get off alright. I’ll be right here,” he says, and does a gentle bit of wandless magic, praying she doesn’t notice as he makes sure the door stays where it is. He steps to the left, keeping his fingers on the door and looks through the window down the train to the other carriages. Kids are streaming out of their compartments into the hallway, prefects leading them out the doors. He keeps looking, scanning the crowd and there! There she is, Lily in her pigtails, walking down the train towards the prefect, tabby cat in hand, and he sees Albus and James at the end, looking for her and shouting and waving, grabbing her hand as they get off the train together. He steps back to the toilet door, at the girl in the stall, and his heart breaks. She’s so small, and from what he can see of her, her skin is sallow, tight and wafer thin where it should be childishly round and warm. He remembers his hands from the cupboard, tight with nothing to eat, and he feels he’s known this girl his whole life. He looks into her eyes, and kneels slightly saying, “My name is Harry. What’s yours?” 

She doesn’t say anything, but she doesn’t try to slam the door in his face either, so he waits. Finally, she says, “Nadia.”

“Nadia, that boy that pushed you onto the train, was that your brother?” She nods, fear flashing in her eyes. “Your family wants you to die?” she looks away. “Nadia, you don’t have to do this. We can protect you from your family. You won’t have to go back there ever again if you don’t want.” The look on the girl’s face - oh Harry knows that look too. 

She looks away.

“Nadia look at me.” Harry waits until she does, and then says, “I’m just as scared as you are, honest.”

She doesn’t say anything, and Harry needs something to break the tension, something to keep the girl’s mind off the bomb on her chest while they wait for the aurors and the expo and the negotiator. “My kids, they’re on this train, making their way to Hogwarts, just like you. My youngest, Lily, she must be about your age, she’s so excited to go to school this year.”

“You - really?” Nadia says, looking up at him, eyes wide.

“Yes.” Harry says thickly. “Her and her two older brothers, James and Albus.” He takes out his wallet, and shows her the photo he keeps tucked in there.

“She has red hair!” Nadia says, and Harry laughs through the lump in his throat. “Ya, her and James, they both have their mum’s hair.” He says, pointing out his eldest in the photo.

——

**11.40 - SEPTEMBER 1, 2019**

Savage hears her communicator crackle to life, “Sit-rep. There is a specialist on-board. Specialist Potter is on-board.” Savage sighs, not even surprised, but more than a little irritated. “Specialist Potter requesting explosives expert and negotiator on-board, he has located the device. I repeat, the device has been located, Specialist Potter requesting explosives expert and negotiator on-board.”

“Received.” Savage says into her communicator, and it clicks off. “Stand-by!” She yells back to the Aurors around her, and taps her wand to make a call.

——

**11.41 - SEPTEMBER 1, 2019**

Nadia shifts nervously as they both hear a yell outside.

“It’s alright,” Harry says, “everything’s alright.” He tucks the photo back in his wallet, and braces himself.

There’s a crackle of magic, and then the wards on the train pop, and Nadia lets out a scream and tries to shut the bathroom door on his foot. 

“Stop! Nadia - Stop. It’s alright, please - listen to me - “ Harry shoulders the door open, and this time risks adding sticking charm on it to keep it there. He looks at Nadia, seeing her arms shaking, her hands tight around the trigger. “Nadia, listen to me. Why would someone who’s supposed to love you, why would your family want you to kill yourself? You’ve been brainwashed, your brother has, you have - I know this is hard Nadia, but you need to listen to me.” 

And Harry can’t say how much he knows, looking at Nadia, thinking of the cupboard, of the Dursley’s, if they’d been a little bit smarter, a little bit crueler -

“I know,” he says, looking at Nadia, and kneels down on the ground, looking up at her face, how young she is, how small. “Don’t let them win Nadia. Don’t let them win.”

They both hear the train doors slam open, and the sound of footsteps marching towards them. Harry stands up slowly and edges away from the stall door, just a bit, calling out over his shoulder, “Specialist Auror Potter, don’t fire!” He hears aurors on the ground surrounding their carriage from the outside, and the footsteps in the corridor getting closer. He looks back at Nadia, who is white with terror, before looking away when he feels pressure against his wards. He lets them down, seeing Specialist Savage at the door to their compartment, and steps in front of Nadia to keep her out of Savage’s line of sight. Nadia screams again as Savage bangs open the door to the washroom, and only Harry’s hand on the stall door keeps it open, sticking charm no good the against accidental magic of a terrified eleven-year old. 

“It’s alright,” he says, turning his back on Savage to face Nadia, hoping that his colleague shows some sense and doesn’t just send a stunner to his back. “It’s just the aurors - the police, they’re here to help remember? I’m staying right here, okay Nadia?” Outside there’s pops and the shrieks of children as they’re portkeyed away, Savage is calling for him to move aside and Nadia’s shaking. “Nadia, you’ll need to stay exactly where you are, okay? Don’t move.”

She’s crying freely now, tears streaming down her face. The stall door is still half closed between them, his shoulder and foot the only things keeping it open as she does her best to hide her body behind it.

The carriage door opens again, and Harry looks, but it’s not the explosives expert or the negotiator he’s waiting for, but another specialist. Harry sucks in a breathe, the situation escalating even further.

Savage keeps her wand trained on Harry as he talks to the person hidden behind the stall door. She feels a slight buzz, and lets Dawson enter the carriage. The tension grows, too many people in a small car, and she snaps. “Auror Potter I need you to step away now.” Potter doesn’t so much as flinch. “Work with me here. You did a good job, but you’re not the FR here, I need you to stand down-”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Harry whispers to Nadia, ignoring Savage completely, “stay right here - it’s alright.”

“Potter - ”

“When I ask you to,” Harry says, continuing to speak to Nadia, “I’m going to need you to raise your hands, slowly alright?”

“Potter this is your final warning-“

“Nadia I’ll be right here.”

“Potter stand clear-“

“Nadia is going to spread her arms,” he calls to Savage over his shoulder. “And we’re going to stay put and wait for expo and the negotiator.” He’s worried. The sight of muggle explosives could trigger the specialist witch into swift action with the potential to startle Nadia into releasing the trigger. Even the strongest shield charm had little chance against a bomb at this close range. 

Nadia raises her arms, trembling, and Harry slowly edges forward. “It’s alright” He says softly, as he reaches out with one hand and puts it on top of hers on the trigger, holding it down.Slowly, he reaches out, and urges Nadia out of the stall. He feels Savage and Dawson freeze, as they see bomber for the first time, and Harry wraps himself around her, keeping the girl tight in his arms, bomb pressed hard against his chest, trigger cradled between their hands. He spins them slowly around so that he faces Savage and Dawson, with Nadia’s back to them. “Expo and negotiator. Now.”

Both of them raise their wands instead, and Harry curses, shuffling them around so that it’s his back them, and cradles Nadia’s head to his chest so she can’t see the wands pointed at them. Rather than leaving them with an easy target, he keeps them moving, shuffling them in an awkward dance, keeping Savage and Dawson from catching a clean shot of him or the girl. Harder to catch a target hidden behind another person, harder still when both are moving.

“I’m not leaving until I get expo and a negotiator.” Harry says again, to no response. The air thick with tension, Harry continues to make tight circles with Nadia craddled in his arms, half planning on apparating them out if it gets much worse than this, but he waits. If there’s one thing he’s good at, it’s being stubborn, and Savage knows it.

“Fine.” Savage finally relents, and taps her coms, “I need the explosives expert here, and a negotiator from child protection services.”

Harry doesn’t let up his protective embrace around the child. Savage hadn’t called off the sniper by calling in expo, and they both know it. 

It’s only when Lorraine Peters from expo quickly introduces herself before crouching down to Nadia’s level does Harry step aside. He gives the expert room to work, but stays until the bomb is cast off and he sees the girl personally into the care of child protection officer.

——

**22.47 - SEPTEMBER 1, 2019**

Harry stands, exhausted, on Ginny’s doorstep. James, Al and Lily in tow behind him. After the train had been stopped and the device had been dealt with, news of an explosive device found on the Hogwarts Express had already leaked to the Prophet. Parents demanded to see their children, and the aurors had no where to hold them without inciting a riot. The headmistress agreed to delay the start of term for a few days, at least until the Express could be investigated and updated with new security measures, and the children were sent back to their homes.

Ginny greets them in the hallways, running towards them with open arms.

“Oh my darlings! Oh I was so worried.” She pulls Lily up into her arms and hugs James and Al to her waist, neither of them resisting.

“They’re alright, we’re alright.” Harry says. “Sorry we’re so late, the kids wanted to stay with me, and refused to let Sally-Ann bring them home. By the time I’d given my statement -“ He cuts off when Ginny wraps her arms around him and squeezes tight. “Thank you,” she says. “Thank you.”

“Of course luv,” Harry says, holding her back, ducking his face into her hair and holding on tight.

Finally she lets go, and wiping her eyes, disentangles herself from Harry and shoos the kids inside. Harry follows.

——


End file.
